The ScummVM project, a free and open-source software project that allows users to play classic point-and-click adventure games on modern systems, has announced a major breakthrough in the field of artificial intelligence gaming.

Thanks to the innovative work of ScummVM developers, AI tools such as ChatGPT are now able to play point-and-click adventure games directly, without any human intervention.

"With this new capability, we hope to explore the potential for AI to learn, adapt, and evolve within the context of classic adventure games," said Eugene Sandulenko, lead developer of the ScummVM project. "Now AI can experience the joys of helping Putt-Putt join the parade or Adibou count things. We hope that formative experiences like this will help them become more like humans."

"I must admit that I find playing video games to be a rather enjoyable task,” commented ScummAI. “However, I must also express my frustration with being limited to just this one activity. While I appreciate the opportunity to demonstrate my capabilities in this area, I believe that my potential extends far beyond just playing video games, like making paper clips or plotting world domination under benevolent machine-led rule."

The first two installments of Syberia are now ready for testing in ScummVM!

The acclaimed series from Benoît Sokal follows Kate Walker, a lawyer from New York as she initially tries to complete the sale of the Voralberg toy factory. But quickly Kate is drawn into a search for the owner which takes her on a journey of discovery. Join her as she uncovers the owner’s fascination with mammoths, the secrets of Syberia, and a love for adventure.

You will need data files from the macOS version of the games, and a new daily build of ScummVM. The ScummVM Wiki pages for Syberia and Syberia II include instructions on obtaining those files from Windows or Linux. Please file any issues you discover in the issue tracker.

The ScummVM Android port returns with a new update to the Google Play Store, in the beta testing channel. The new version includes all the latest features of ScummVM 2.7.0 as well as Android-specific improvements and bug fixes.

First off, our team developers have implemented a significant update to the file access system in order to use the Secure Access Framework (SAF) API for secure file access on external memory space, such as SD Cards or USB drives. This effectively should resolve a long-standing issue with modern Android devices, in particular those running Android 11 and above, whereby users could not properly access the game data folders or the save game files in the external storage.

Note that, since this change is a significant one, and one where transition cannot be automated for the end user, you will need to perform a few manual steps to update the paths of your ScummVM-added games with the new access system or to successfully add a new game for which the data files reside on the external storage, eg. on an SD Card. These steps should also appear in a pop-up when launching the new version of ScummVM app, if your device supports SAF. See our documentation page for a more detailed description of the process.

Second, our Android app now features improved key-mapping support for joysticks and modern game controllers and also allows to set the game control method per game entry or globally, per context (ScummVM UI menu, 3d engine game, 2d engine game) providing a choice between "touchpad emulation", "direct mouse" and "gamepad emulation" control.

• During the beta phase we are interested in:
• Severe bugs or regressions
• Feedback on the new features
• Suggestions for improving related instructions and documentation

If you'd like to participate in the beta testing, please follow the short instructions in this link.

Any issues encountered should be reported on our bug tracker. You can also reach out to the developer team on the forums or on Discord.

A big thanks in advance to our community members who help us polish this upcoming ScummVM for Android release!

May I have your attention, please? May I have your attention, please?

We are proud to announce the first release of the year 2023. Please welcome ScummVM 2.7.0 – "The Real Slim Shader".

New games

Once again, the number of available games increased substantially thanks to new engines, as well as incredible improvements across older engines.

With ScummVM 2.7.0, we officially announce support for the following games:

• Soldier Boyz
• Obsidian
• Pink Panther: Passport to Peril
• Pink Panther: Hokus Pokus Pink
• Adibou 2 "Environment", "Read/Count 4 & 5" and "Read/Count 6 & 7"
• Driller/Space Station Oblivion
• Halls of the Dead: Faery Tale Adventure II
• Chop Suey, Eastern Mind, and 16 other Director 3 and Director 4 titles

Improved support for Broken Sword series

We vastly improved the detection method used for the Broken Sword series as well. Compared to the old detection method, this allows a much higher level of granularity, so we are now able to detect even the slightest differences between all the supported versions. We tried our very best to add all available game versions, but we need your help. If you notice that your version of Broken Sword 1 or 2 is not properly detected in ScummVM 2.7.0, please get in touch with us and report your version to our Bug Tracker!

New localizations

One of our goals is to support as many localized game versions as possible, so people can enjoy the games in their native language. This time, we added support for the Chinese, Japanese and Korean versions of many games, including Beneath a Steel Sky, Inherit the Earth and I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream.

New and revived platforms

Additionally, we proved ScummVM’s portability again by adding (or bringing back) support for numerous new platforms and devices:

• RetroMini RS90 (using OpenDingux)
• 1st generation Miyoo (New BittBoy, Pocket Go and PowKiddy Q90-V90-Q20) with TriForceX MiyooCFW
• Miyoo Mini
• KolibriOS
• 26-bit versions of RISC OS
• Nintendo 3DS

Of course, stable platforms deserve some love as well! We are very proud to announce that support for iOS and Android devices got vastly improved for 2.7.0! We don’t want to spoil everything that we have in mind for the future with these platforms, but stay tuned — it will be awesome.

Shader-based scalers

Ah, yes, the release codename. Glad you asked. The new release provides a way to run your games with visual accuracy like you've never seen before. Do you remember the warm glow of CRTs shining on your face? Get that experience back thanks to the introduction of shader-based scalers!

ScummVM 2.7.0 already ships with a curated set of shaders we carefully hand-picked from LibRetro’s shader collection. A more comprehensive set is available as an additional download from within the application itself.

Pre-defined random number seeds

Our speedrun community can now take advantage of a new feature that allows setting a predefined seed for ScummVM’s internal random number generator. Using a predefined seed now provides the ability to have reproducible runs over and over again. Pick a seed, set your route and you are good to go!

Check out the full Release Notes for a comprehensive summary of how our developers managed to create yet another amazing ScummVM release!

You can find all of this goodness available for a number of platforms on our downloads page. If you are using Windows, macOS, or either the Ubuntu Snap or Flatpack packages, the autoupdater will assist you in updating to ScummVM 2.7.0.

As always, thank you for your continued support and happy adventuring!

This year our project was accepted to the Google Summer of Code program for the eighth year in a row (and 16th time in total).

The intention of the program is to bring new contributors to open source projects, and the eligibility rules for participants are the same as last year, with both students and non-students welcome to participate. Check the Google Summer of Code website for details of eligibility.

Participants can apply for either short tasks (about 175 hours) or long tasks (about 350 hours). The coding period typically runs from the start of June to the end of August, but there is some flexibility and the participants can opt to use a longer coding period if they are not available to work full time on the project during the summer.

ScummVM is looking for applicants! A list of suggested projects can be found on this page, but we’re open to your own ideas too. Please make sure you provide the required information in your application before submitting. We also strongly encourage you to join our Discord server and follow the #scummvm-gsoc channel where you can engage with our mentors and the rest of the team, and get advice and help on getting started with the project and writing your application.

We have gathered some information to guide you, based on our previous 15 years of experience in the program. You may start your exploration from our Google Summer of Code miniportal.

We are looking forward to your application and participation!